Afcacia

Safaricom has set up a $2 million operations centre in Kenya to boost M-Pesa mobile money platform and expansion into new markets.

Kenya’s leading mobile operator said the Shared Service Operations Centre will support M-Pesa operations in Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Lesotho, Ghana, and future markets it expands to.

“The M-Pesa Africa Shared Service Operations Centre builds on our purpose by enabling us to deliver a higher service quality and increased platform reliability as we expand to more markets and add more products to the platform,” said Safaricom chief executive Peter Ndegwa.

The new operation hub will also bring together multiple operations offices in Africa and Europe under one roof for the first time. The launch of the centre is also part of Safaricom’s strategy to transition to a digital cloud-based platform.

The new M-Pesa platform, the telco said, is designed to be scalable and offer all markets its portfolio of products and services, support integration of new products and services and leverage emerging technologies such as Big Data and AI.

Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub said financial services remain a priority in the firm’s drive towards financial and digital inclusion on the continent.

“The launch of this Operations Centre is an important milestone and testament to our commitment to continue delivering innovative and cost-effective personal finance and business solutions that were previously difficult and cumbersome to acquire – further supporting us in connecting the next 100 million African customers,” Joosub noted.